Previously on Chapter 1: Hourglass…

…He eyed the two of them suspiciously. "Who are you?"Sam asked again.

Chapter 2
Welcome to The Future

"It's hard to believe, but er, we are actually…"

"Hey De…! Can I, er, talk to you for a second?" Sam cut Dean off urgently and gave him a very meaningful look.

"Sure," Dean said, understanding. "And you..." Dean reached out and grabbed Sammy by the arm.

"Hey!... Let go of me...!" He protested as he was being half-dragged-and-half-lifted into the kitchen.

"Stay here. For like, 5 minutes, ok?" Dean requested.

"There's only one exit and you'll have to get pass us to get to it, which you won't. There's no other way out, trust me," Sam added before heading back to the library.

"Let's see… Peanut-butter-jam's in the fridge and bread's on top the oven. Knock yourself out," Dean offered before leaving.

"Dude… what the hell," Dean said in a low, serious voice as he meets Sam back in the library.

"That hourglass. It must be some kind of enchanted object…" Sam said as he checks the scribbles against his phone.

"Cursed object, more like…" Dean snarled.

"And the scribbles in the book, it roughly translates - to this," Sam showed Dean the translation on his phone while reading it out: "As space-time contorts, the journey halts, and the past, the present, the future unites."

"Contorted space-time… Great, just great…" Dean pulled his palm down across his face. "So this is like some kind of a spell? Please tell me the counter spell is somewhere in there," Dean glared at the book like it had offended him.

"I'll check through every page, but Dean, before we find it, you can't just go about telling… Sam.. about his future," Sam lowered his voice into a whisper. "It may, you know, change the past, which will cause distortions in the future - our present…"

"Right…right. I get it. So, we can't tell "Marty McFly" over there that he's "back to the future". Well, then, what are we gonna tell him? You need to come up with something good, something that you would believe, or he'll be running up that stairs any time now."

Sam sighs and looks around the room, searching for inspiration.

"We can... tie him to a chair until we find the spell?" Sam proposed.

"Did you really just suggest tying yourself to a chair?" Dean said in astoundment.

"After we take away the lock picker from his back pocket...yea."

"You'll give yourself PTSD! And guess what, I'll be the one who'll have to deal with that after sending you back!"

"Dean!" Sam hissed warningly at Dean's gradually raised voice as he became agitated by their conversation.

"Is it true?" A slight figure steps out of hallway leading from the library to the back of the bunker.

"I thought we told you to stay in the kitchen!" Sam chided angrily, taken aback by his sudden reappearance.

"Yea...and when have you ever listen, huh," Dean muttered to themselves.

"What you just said…are they all true? So…I'm in the future? And you guys are…future me and…future Dean?" Sam gasped in awe.

"What? No! No, this is not the future…this is…" Sam's head spins as he tries to come up with a plausible explanation.

"A secret universe. Like a fourth dimension…sort of," Dean blabbered incoherently.

Sam turns around to have his back facing Sam while he faces Dean. "Seriously?" He mouthed at Dean incredulously.

Their dubious denial only further affirmed Sam's suspicions.

"Nice try, Dean," Sam said sarcastically. "Then tell me, how did you know I like peanut-butter-jam sandwich? And that I have a lock picker in my back pocket? Oh, and this must be a misprint of the date but, since when do we have a black president?" Sam held up a recent newspaper in his hand.

"… …"

"Fine, you got it. Welcome to the future," Dean finally admitted.

"Dean!" Sam rebuked.

"What! He already knows the truth. It's not my fault you were such a smartass."

Sam sighs in defeat as he pinches the bridge of his nose in between his eyes. "I'm going to call Cas. See if he can help out with this…situation," Sam announced as he pulls out his phone.

"Is that a future mobile phone?" Sam asked interestedly as he watches his future-self swipes his fingers across the button-less, smooth surface of the small device.

"It's called a smartphone now. You can do everything with that thing and I mean everything. Check this out…" Dean pulled out his own phone from his pocket.

"Yes… I know, I won't let him out of my sight… Thanks Cas, see you soon," Sam ended the call.

"Cool!" "Yup, and that's not it…" "Whoa~" Sam walks back from the war room into the library to find Dean and Sam sitting side by side, exploring modern technology.

"So, Cas is on the way. Will probably reach in couple minutes, he happens to be nearby," Sam informed Dean.

"Who's Cas? Is he a hunter?" Sam asked.

"Er…something like that. He's a friend," Sam replied with a half-truth.

"A hunter-in-training, actually," Dean supplemented.

"Anyway, we should try to find the counter spell before Cas arrives. I'll look through the book, you can do the shelves," Sam suggested.

"Oh. No. I'll start with the book; you can hit the shelves." Dean picked the easier task for himself.

"I can help. I research with books all the time," Sam offered.

"We know," Dean said with a twitch of his lips. "But er, you see, we can't just let you in on everything around here because of all that… time travel, cause and effect kind of thing," Dean told him.

"Actually, Dean, maybe he can help with the book, it's just looking for scribbles and he won't understand French," Sam suggested.

"Alright," Dean sighs at having to give up the easy task. "Just look for any markings or writings… Something like this," Dean showed Sam the scribbles and then got up to help Sam with the shelves.

"I found it somewhere here…" The three (or 2?) of them spent a concentrated half an hour looking for the counter spell but to no avail.

A knock on the door signifies Castiel's arrival.

"Thanks for coming Cas," Sam said gratefully as he opens the door to let him in.

"Hello, Sam," Cas greeted him and steps into the bunker.

"Hi, Cas. This is…" Dean began.

"Sam Winchester, from the year 1997," Cas stares straight at Sam as though he is looking right through his soul, which he probably is.

"You know any way to zap him back to his own time zone?" Dean cut straight to the chase.

Castiel picks up the hourglass on the table and scrutinises it. "This…is the craftsmanship of Liutprand…"

"Liut-who?" Dean repeated.

"Liutprand. He was a French monk, and the inventor of the sand clock in the 8th century AD," Cas elaborated.

"That explains the French spell," Dean noted.

"The counter-spell was lost after Liutprand died," Cas continued evenly.

"Lost?" Sam picked out the keyword.

"Yes."

"Is there any other way besides the spell?" Dean asked.

"If I am at full power, I may be able to send him back…" Cas reminisced.

"What happen if we don't send him back?" Sam asked tentatively.

"He cannot stay here. There cannot be two of the same soul in the same continuum. The universe won't allow it. Not for long."

"What do you m…" Sam tried to ask before Dean cut him off.

"How long do we have?"

"Until all the sand flows back to the other side of the ampule." Cas tilts the hourglass to have the lesser sand globe at the top.

"But it's not moving."

"It will, soon."

"What do we do then?"

"Nothing. You just stay here with young Sam. I'll find Liutprand and ask him for the counter-spell."

"But I thought he's dead? Do we summon his ghost or something?" Sam asked in confusion.

"No, I believe he is in heaven."

"Then how…?"

"I'm an angel, Sam. And I still have some connections that I can utilise…"

"You are an angel? Angels are real?!" Sam's eyes widened in great surprise. "And…I'm friend with an angel?" He looked from the older Sam to Castiel, trying to wrap all these around his head.

"Er…Cas, I thought we are not supposed to tell him that? Won't it, you know…alter the past and mess up the future…" Sam asked in concern.

"No. As space-time contorts, the journey halts," Cas recited the first half of the spell. "If I am able to find the counter-spell, he will be sent back to the exact space-time where he came from. He won't remember ever coming here. Only we would," Castiel explained.

Sam and Dean sigh in relief at this new piece of information while Sam purses his lips, not sure what to make of it.

"I will be back before the sand falls," Cas promised.

"Thanks Cas." "We owe you one." Sam and Dean said while Cas nodded and left.

Side Note: The title of this story is supposed to be "Sammy + Side Story: The Journey" but the "+" sign wouldn't appear, so I wrote "Sammy & Side Story: The Journey" instead.

Preview

Coming soon… Side Story 1: The Journey Before